I need to learn about lamination errors - what do you suggest I read?

[dogparkdays]

I've read a lot of the postings on the forum - was looking for something that says "a lamination error is.....it is caused by......it typically looks like X, but can certainly look like Y.

Any suggestions?

What is this I'm looking at? Is it a lamination error or just COC (crud on coin ) or GOC (gunk/glue on coin )?

[willbrooks]

Lamination Error: This is when metal cracks and flakes off of the surface of a coin, due to impurities in the alloy mixture. These occur almost exclusively on solid alloy coins, and are therefore found on pre-1982 Lincoln cents. The flaking piece may still be attached (retained) or can be missing.


They have many different looks, but are usually easy to pick out. I suggest doing a search. Larry, forum name "Joel" has many excellent examples posted in threads here.

[VAB2013]

Hello Jill! I'm not really seeing what looks like a LAM issue on your wheat cent because with a LAM you usually see a separation or lifting of the coin surface, or in extreme cases parts of the areas that lift up will fall off creating a deep crater. I think what you are seeing is a combination of verdigris, circulation wear and possibly some other type of inert substance on the front of the coin. Just my feeling... we will see what the others say.

[dogparkdays]

Thanks Will and Vivian - that helped. I'll study Joel's postings.

[JC Stevens]

Check out this site.

http://www.error-ref.com/

http://www.error-ref.com/index-of-entries/

[dogparkdays]

Thanks 2Old - that was perfect!

[VAB2013]

You are doing a great job to ask questions and study Jill! I went back and looked at your coin again and I am a bit curious about what I am seeing on the reverse of your coin, right in the center. I tried to enlarge the photo and it got blurry. Please take another look at that and let us know what you think.

Guys.. it's the second photo up from the bottom

[dogparkdays]

Thanks Vivian - (I'm at work so not with the coin..). The photo 2nd up from the bottom I included because the metal is striated - kind of like you'd see in a woodgrain, but not quite like the woodgrains I've seen. The second picture from the top - the West East diagonal is the same kind of metal color change - just a bigger patch of it. Definately lots going on with this coin.

[VAB2013]

You're welcome Jill. I see what you are describing and it could be from an improper alloy mix. I'm wondering if that piece missing in the center of the coin is from taking a hit (PSD) or if that area surrounding it is a LAM and that part just fell off. When you can, take a closer look and see what you think.

[jfines69]

Looks like COC, GOC, I like it , and environmental damage!!!

[dogparkdays]

The only place that I see actual missing pieces are on the rim/edge (pictures). The light color in the middle on the reverse is a golden color and is in the metal. It's like throughout the cent someone has sprinkled this golden color.

So - to be clear, for my sake, the glue gunk is in no way related to minting? No way - nada? The reason I ask is because there are place where the glue is mising - in a streak - and where the glue is missing there is that golden color. I gues that could be post mint distristruction - glue on coin - glue smears off coin in some places - acid or something hits coin (thinking outloud).

[VAB2013]

Okay Jill, thank you! The updated photos really help, especially the fourth one down. What looked like a chunk missing was actually an illusion from the different color in that area.

We never know what our Lincoln cents, and especially older wheats, have been through before we get them. No real way to know if the golden sparkle is from the improper alloy mix or from something being stuck on the coin for a long time that left a residue on the coin that created that golden sparkle. It's a cool looking wheat! Keep up the good work!

[jfines69]

The glue and almost all the damage on your coin is PSD... PSD (Post Strike Damage) is used instead of PMD (Post Mint Damage) just due to the fact most all damage done to the coin happens after the strike... It can happen inside the mint or outside the mint... Here is a link to Surface Film Effects http://www.error-ref.com/surface-film-effects/ which I do not see on your coin... The discoloration (gold color) on your coin looks like some one did a science experiment... There are ways to make a penny like silver or gold... The lines look like your coin was cleaned aggressively... Hope that helps a little!!!

[dogparkdays]

Thanks all -
Learned a lot through this thread - much appreciated!!

[GrumpyEd]

When I see a gunked over cent like that, I can only imagine it's history. Nobody tried to do anything to make a riddle for us to solve, it was fate. There's no mint problem or error, it's only from the stuff it was exposed to over time.

It was made in 38, the US was not doing great but the depression was fading away, Hitler was in power and getting ready to invade Poland the next year. The US was chugging along. We can only imagine the cents fate. It was someplace through WW2, the Korean war, Vietnam, everything in that period until now. We don't know when, it could have been 1939 or much later that cent had already had some use. It probably got lodged someplace like under a floor molding, maybe in a stairway, a ship, a building, a house, a store. It got some floor adhesive, some walpaper adhesive, some paint or whatever and stayed stuck. At some point maybe some renovation or something and someone saw a round looking thing and thought weee I found a penny and dislodged it. Those light color areas might be where the goo stayed on wherever it was as it was freed. Someone dislodged enough goo to spend it and someone got it and said "neat a 1938 wheatie" and from there it got to you.

You can only fill in that last step with certainty of where you got it.

That's my imagination of how to describe why it is how it is.